With sales at an all-time high, the popularity of the pickup style truck as an everyday vehicle is more wide spread than it ever has been. Their utility and convenience in hauling items coupled with the availability of luxury interiors and extended cab space have made the pickup a popular alternative to other vehicles. Many of these pickup trucks are equipped with tie-down hooks. These hooks are typically provided in the four stake posts holes provided in the upper rail of the pickup truck bed. Manufacturers may also provide hook assemblies within the bed itself to aid in attaching straps, ropes and other tie-down means. However, as handy as such tie-downs are, it seems they are never in the right location to adequately and safely tie down the cargo at hand. Another style of tie-down anchors are those which utilize a clamping means to attach to the upper rail of the truck bed. These anchors may provide improved flexibility regarding anchoring locations, but due to the manner in which they attach to the upper rail they suffer from the load forces applied. This bending force can damage the upper rail of the truck bed since the clamping assemblies do not provide suitable contact area to properly disperse the load created by the tie-down. Solutions to this bending force often require a user to use additional securing hardware to mount the anchor to the upper rail or otherwise prepare the truck bed for attachment of the anchor. As such, many users resort to devising improvised strapping methods which may result in damage to the cargo or truck at best or present a safety issue at worst.
Various attempts have been made in the past to overcome these problems and provide tie-down anchors for truck beds. These attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,256,844, issued in the name Wheatley, describes a tie-down anchor assembly for attachment to a side rail of a pickup truck bed. The Wheatley anchor assembly comprises an anchor plate with an upright portion, an anchor which protrudes from the anchor plate, and a clamp assembly that is secured via a threaded fastener.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,991, issued in the name of Porter, describes a tie-down anchor for a truck bed for use in securing loads to an open truck bed. The Porter anchor comprises a mounting platform, two (2) pivoting arms with a spring mounted between, and a tie fastening ring and is installed within the existing post receiving wells commonly provided on the t upper rail of a pickup truck.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,090, issued in the name of Salmon et al., describes an anchorage assembly which enables a vehicle accessory to the selectively mounted to a vehicle comprising a rectangular housing having a central cavity and an anchor which is partially disposed within the cavity. The Salmon et al. assembly further provides a resilient material within the cavity that absorbs vibrations and impact loads to the anchor.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,969,219, issued in the name of Speece et al., describes a cargo anchor for a truck bed sidewall top plate which covers a post receiving aperture for securing an anchor line. The Speece et al. anchor comprises an anchor bar for securing the anchor line to an anchor cover plate and a locator plate that is fastened to the cover plate with screws and engages the inside of the sidewall of the truck bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,900, issued in the name of Boltz, describes a cargo tie-down device for securing cargo and other loads to truck beds or supports. The Boltz device is installed within the post receiving well of the pickup truck comprises a rectangular first plate and an eye nut that are affixed to an elongated rod.
Other relevant attempts to address these problems can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents, including: U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,963 (Beacom); U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,576 (Cargill); U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,437 (Kalis, Jr.); U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,089 (Tekavec); U.S. Pat. No. 6,416,265 (Flores et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,437 (Elwell); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,547,311 (Derecktor).
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffers from one (1) or more deficiencies by failing to provide a tie-down anchoring assembly which addresses these disadvantages. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which tie-down points in a pickup truck bed can be provided where needed to safely secure cargo. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.